The World is Crazier Than You
by flashwitch
Summary: Thoughts and unconnected scenes based on watching Thor 2 so Spoilers Sweetie. Each chapter is a stand alone bit. Not actually a sequel to Elephant Graveyard, but putting it as part of the same series because reasons. I'll be tagging things in the notes as each chapter may have different issues etc.
1. Chapter 1

**This is based on the brief scene when Darcy is trying to call SHIELD and Eric and can't get through. It just occurred to me that the SHIELD agent she knew was Phil...**

**(Edited to fix a couple of typos). **

* * *

Darcy stared at her phone. She still couldn't get through to SHIELD. Last time she'd tried calling, after the Battle of Manhattan, the phone had rang and rang, but no one hand answered. This time, she got a disconnected signal.

It was... disconcerting.

SHIELD were supposed to be monitoring this sort of thing, weren't they? Didn't they have some team somewhere whose job it was to go around solving weird shit? Because gravity disturbances rated pretty high on the weird shit-o-meter. And Darcy was way out of her depth here.

"Come on," she said. "Pick up."

* * *

_"Here's your iPod back." Phil Coulson, Agent of SHIELD, handed her the mp3 player. She was sitting on the ground and he was standing over her. She had to squint against the harsh New Mexico sun to see him clearly. _

_"Thanks. Not that I'm forgiving you for taking it in the first place." She snatched it and scrolled through her playlists, making sure everything was in order._

_"Here." He was holding out a card to her, and she frowned, shading her eyes with her hand so she could see him better. _

_"What's that?" _

_"It's my card." He didn't move the hand holding it out until she reached out and took it. "That's my personal number. If you come into contact with anything strange, or if something happens, you call me. If Thor or his brother come back, get in touch."_

_"Why are you giving me your personal number?" Coulson smiled blandly, put his sunglasses back on and walked away. "Hey!" Darcy shouted. He didn't turn around. "Thank you!" _

_When he still didn't turn around or respond, Darcy shrugged and put the card in her pocket. She was sure it would come in handy at some point. Thor was bound to come back for Jane and where that hunk of man flesh went, trouble followed. At least now she had a number to call when the weird shit hit the fan. _


	2. Chapter 2

**No warnings for this one. A little look at Ian the Intern, and Darcy. **

* * *

Ian wasn't entirely sure what was happening. He had been in a bar last night. That he knew for sure. He had been drinking. And there was a girl. She'd been drinking too...

And she'd been pretty. Really pretty, even with the slur in her voice and the way her eyes couldn't seem to stay open. She had really big... personality. A really big personality and they got talking and then...

And then...?

He woke up alone in his digs. At least he thought he was alone. He was also on the floor. And his head hurt. He really wasn't sure what had happened last night.

"Hey, you're awake! Now, how much do you remember of last night, because I'm pretty sure that we didn't sleep together, because you know, we're still wearing clothes and shit, but I just wanted to check, you know? Because if we did, sorry dude. I'm not really looking for some English guy to sweep me off my feet or whatever. I mean I prefer to do the metaphorical sweeping around here. Not the literal sweeping, although I do a lot of that. Jane gets too distracted by SCIENCE to do chores and for the love of god say something."

"Hi. I'm Ian."

"Ian. Hey. I'm Darcy." She held out her hand, rolling over so she was lolling out of the bed, and he shook it, bemused.

"I don't think we slept together," Ian said. Because he was on the floor in last night's clothes and she was in his bed. He tried to remember exactly why she was in his bed. "Did you say you worked with Jane Foster last night?"

"Yes. Yes I did. Why, do you know who that is?"

"Yeah. I've read one of her papers."

"Oh my God." She sat up and stared at him. "You're a science nerd. Awesome." She didn't sound like she was being sarcastic, in fact, she sounded genuinely excited. But then, she was American. Charmingly so, but he couldn't be sure he was reading her right.

"Do you think I could meet her? Dr Foster I mean."

"Sure. Fetch me breakfast, some aspirin and I'll let you be my intern."

"Brilliant."He got up and went through to the kitchen he shared with a few other students. He was graduating in a month and he had no idea what he was going to do next. An internship with Jane Foster would be... wow. Not that he was anywhere near her level. He wasn't a genius. He wasn't special. He was just an average student trying to understand how the world worked. He could usually understand concepts if they were explained to him in the right way, or if he read about them. But he was a slow learner and he was just scraping a 2:1.

If he wanted to succeed, if he wanted to move up in the world of physics, if he wanted to make it with this Darcy girl, the internship was the way to go.

He made some toast and put marmite, marmalade and jam on a tray with the plate of hot bread and added a glass of juice and a box of paracetamol.

He didn't have aspirin.

He hoped that was okay.


	3. Chapter 3

**I was at home today, hand feeding and nursing my sick cat. So you guys get fic that I wrote between feedings.**

**This one is about the monster that fell from between realities. His name is Gru.**

**Yes, I named the monster.**

**8D**

**(I feel like I should say that reviews and concrit are very welcome as I got a PM on giving me concrit very nervously, and checking that that was okay. I live off reviews and comments, so feel free to say whatever you think! Seriously.)**

* * *

Gru was lost. He had been playing in the mountains; his mother had always said he shouldn't play up there by himself. She always said it wasn't safe. Gru promised himself that if he could just find his way home, he would never, ever stray away from home again. He would definitely never play in the mountains again. He would do as he was told and be good and he just wanted to get home.

This place was strange and loud and there were weird things everywhere. There were small things that ran around on two legs and fast things that growled and square mountains and he couldn't get back.

He'd fallen through the air window he couldn't get back.

He was lost. The two legs were everywhere and he tried telling them that he was lost but they just babbled and squealed and he didn't know what to do.

He was lost.

He wanted his mother.


	4. Chapter 4

**Clint's reaction, warning for PTSD**

* * *

Clint was sitting in the canteen on the helicarrier. He was back on the roster, finally, but everyone looked at him like he was one wrong word from falling apart. He'd heard that had happened to Selvig, that he just fell apart. Clint was better than that though. He was stronger than that. Loki wasn't even the worst thing to happen to him.

So when some junior agent came running in and shouted:"Thor's in England! There's some kind of invasion, I bet it's Loki again!" Clint didn't panic. He didn't run away. He just carefully set his mug down and stood up, his chair scraping loudly in the sudden silence. He could feel all their eyes on him, watching, looking for cracks. So he wouldn't show them. He put a smirk on his face and made some joke he couldn't remember later. Maybe something about adoption, but he wasn't sure.

He walked through the corridors to his room, and the other agents parted before him. That's happened a lot since Loki, people getting out of his way.

He made it in and shut the door before the shakes hit him and he sank down to the floor, his head falling back against the wall. If Thor was back, that meant trouble. Trouble usually meant Loki where Thor was involved.

And Clint couldn't... he couldn't...

If Loki was back...

If Loki was...

If Loki...

He lost track of things for a little while, curled in on himself on the floor, and came out of it tearstained and with bloody knuckles. He'd beaten up the wall.

Which was a shame because the wall hadn't done anything wrong.

Loki had taken the almost everything from Clint. He took Clint's freedom, he took Clint's illusions, and he took Clint's Coulson. The only thing Clint had left was... well...

He grabbed his phone and hit the speed dial.

"Come on, come on, pick up... Nat? Hey. Yeah. How soon can we get to England?"


	5. Chapter 5

**People keep telling Erik he's crazy and he's almost starting to believe them.**

**Warning for mental health issues. **

* * *

When the whole world is telling you you are crazy, it is very hard to remember you are sane. This is something that Erik has learned.

Another thing that Erik has learned is that the world is out of balance. Things are tipping dangerously to one end of the scale, then the other and he's the only one who is seeing the pattern. He is the only one who can fix this. Loki's voice is in his ear telling him he is pathetic. His therapist says that he wants to save the world so badly because he nearly destroyed it and she doesn't see the patterns no matter how hard Erik tries to show her.

It is real. It must be real. It is real. He can see it all so clearly.

He takes some of the meds they give him, the ones that let him sleep without a world of blue, the ones that slow his heart when something reminds him, but he doesn't take the ones that dull his thinking, the ones that stop everything. They take away Loki's presence, but they stop his thoughts and break him open and he can't... _he can't._

He knows he is right. He knows the patterns. He knows the science. This is real. He is real. The pattern is real.

It is real.


End file.
